Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto-Dominion Bank and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce raised their dividends after reporting third-quarter profits that beat analysts’ estimates.

Royal Bank, the country’s biggest lender, said profit for the period ended July 31 rose 73% to a record $2.24 billion. Toronto-Dominion, the second-biggest bank, said profit climbed 14% to $1.7 billion, or $1.78 a share, while CIBC said profit rose 42% to $841 million, or $2 a share.

The three Toronto-based lenders join Bank of Montreal and Bank of Nova Scotia in raising dividends this week as gains in consumer lending and higher trading revenue helped the world’s soundest banks report earnings that topped estimates.

[np-related /]

“Investors definitely feel there’s more of a value being placed on dividend yield in this low interest-rate environment,” Colleen Johnston, chief financial officer of Toronto-Dominion, said Thursday in a phone interview. “So we made the decision to move up not just the dividend, but the dividend payout range.”

Royal Bank said it earned $1.31 a share excluding items, beating the $1.18-a-share average estimate of 15 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News. Toronto-Dominion reported adjusted profit of $1.91 a share, topping the $1.83-a-share estimate, while CIBC, the fifth-biggest bank, reported adjusted earnings of $2.06 a share, above the $1.96-a-share average estimate.

Record Profit

Canadian banking profit at Royal Bank rose to a record $1.13 billion, up 27% from a year ago, on growth of deposits, mortgages and loans.

Profit at the RBC Capital Markets investment-banking business rose 88% to $486 million from $259 million a year earlier, as trading revenue more than doubled.

Toronto-Dominion said Canadian banking profit climbed 8.7% to a record $864 million, bolstered by loan and deposit growth from last year’s acquisition of the MBNA Canada credit- card portfolio from Bank of America.

Profit from the bank’s TD Securities investment-banking business rose 61% to $180 million, fueled by higher trading revenue. Trading-related income more than tripled to $360 million from a year ago, driven by interest-rate and credit, the bank said.

Consumer Lending

CIBC’s earnings were aided by higher profit from consumer lending and business banking, which rose 7.8% to $594 million from the year-earlier period. The bank also posted profit gains in wealth management and its investment-banking unit, as trading revenue more than doubled to $122 million from a year ago.

“Overall, it was a good quarter for CIBC and the market will likely focus on the positives within domestic retail,” Barclays Plc analyst John Aiken said in a note. “CIBC generated a strong quarter for domestic banking.”

CIBC also said it agreed to buy Griffis & Small LLC, a Houston-based energy advisory firm specializing in takeovers in the exploration and production sector. The price of the deal, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter, wasn’t disclosed.

Royal Bank unexpectedly raised its dividend 5.3% to 60 cents a share, its first increase since March. Toronto-Dominion raised its payout 5.4% to 77 cents a share, and raised its payout range to between 40% and 50% of earnings. CIBC increased its payout for the first time in a year, to 94 cents.

Montreal-based National Bank of Canada, the No. 6 lender, also reports today.